It was a late Sunday morning. Lou, the turtle leisurely crawled towards one of the palm trees on the beach of the Island of Selflessness. When he was half way there, he slowly turned his head back towards the water to see how far he had already come. "Uff", he thought, but kept moving steadily towards the land.

"Bark", said Bark, who lived on the Island of Selflessness.

"Ah, my friend Bark. Nice to see you. How have you been?", Lou said. Bark was nervously walking up and down the beach while he spoke.

"Good. Wuff. How are you doing? How's the water? Anything new? What brings you here, King of the waters? Wuff.", Bark was laughing a little.

"Good, my friend. I'm doing very good. The water is cold and wet, and all in all, it is a wonderful place for a swim, don't you think?", Lou spoke, as always, very slowly.

Barks paws touched the water as he went further down the beach. First he barked in shock, but then he quickly got used to it.

Lou was starting to turn and tried to change his direction back towards the water while he spoke: "It is time to write a field guide to the heart, don't you think?"

"a field guide... Wuff.. to the.. Wuff.. heart... Wuff?"

"Our home, my friend. Yours and mine. I think it is time to explore and write down."

Lou had finally managed to turn around. He took a deep breath of exhaustion.

"Push me down into the water."

The turtle crawled into his shell and Lou came up to use his nose to gently but impatiently push his friend down to the water.

"ouch.... ouch.. ouch... Ok. that's it. Enough. Stop it."

Lou slowly put his feet to the water. "Thank you."

"Wuff, Where will you go?"

A smile came over Lou's wrinkly mouth as he started talking again: "First I will visit the Island of Insecurity, then I will go to the Islands of Hatred. I will go to the volcano of Rage and visit the monster. After that all that is left there is Connection Island, the mainland, where the heart of heart lies, and lastly, the Island of dreams."

"Uff.. That sure sounds like a long.. Wuff.. journey."

"Yes and I will meet many friends on the way. Do you want to accompany me?"

"Wuff.. of course."

Bark suddenly jumped up in shock.

"Whaaaa... Wuff.. What is that?"

A small Island had appeared very close to the shore of the Island of Selflessness.

"An Island of Sympathy.."

"Wooow."

"Let's wait a moment before we leave, to see if it's stable."

The dog did not like the idea of waiting. His selfless nature however kept him from leaving without his friend.

A few seconds later the Island started disappearing again. It sank into the water with rapid speed and was soon completely out of sight.

"What was that?"

"They appear and disappear quite randomly."

Lou started swimming straight ahead. Their next stop, the Island of Insecurity was merely 20 metres away. Softly and calmly, the waves of the ocean were pulling them slightly to the left. Lou didn't have any problem with that, Bark however had a little bit of a struggle before he reached the new shore.

He shaked in an attempt to get all the water out of his fur.

"How will you go deeper into the land?", Bark asked.

"I have friends who can carry me.", Lou responded.

Bark noticed a group of people to their right.

"That is the Clan of Obsessions. Don't go there."

"Woof... ?", Bark had already run too far to hear the warning.

One of the people came and talked to Bark: "Hey. We are looking for a sacrifice that we can make to our God. How about you?"

"Oh, yes. I can be your sacrifice!"

Lou shook his head in disapproval. Soon afterwards the clan started skinning and burning the dog.

"It's a shame really..." Lou said with tears in his eyes. He turned his head so that he wouldn't have to see it anymore. He pushed away the feelings and decided to focus on his mind instead, as he always did.

"Lucy.. Where are you?", Lou said and lifted his head up to the sky. His eyes were searching the clouds. "Lucy, my old friend. Where are you?"

A light appeared in the distance. "There she is.", he thought.

"Come here!", he tried to scream. But turtles can't scream, at least, not very loudly.

The light came closer and closer. Finally Lucy became visible. Her body was shining and she was surrounded by light. Her long, blond hair, almost white, appeared to be brown depending on the angle that you looked at her. "An angel, made of light. Lucy Shannax. Shannax Lucy", Lou spoke overwhelmed by her presence for the hundredth time.

"What did you come here for?", her voice was clearer than glass and finer than the finest sand.

"To search the heart and to find the heart. To explore the heart and to understand the heart."

"The Field Guide to a Heart.", she read his thoughts. The always-lasting connection between the two was tightening as they spoke.

"What can you tell me about this place?", Lou asked, because he was enchanted by her voice.

"How can you love and understand me?"

"How can I understand and not love?"

"How can you touch?"

"I can't and I won't."

"6 Tribes are living here. One, the Clan of Obsession, you have already met. Close by the Seekers of Affirmation live and also the People-pleasers.

Further in, the "Judges" live and amongst them the distraction-seekers who serve them.

"One Clan under God" and "The Almighty" have made up the "land of Entitlement" further in.

In the very midst of the Island is the temple of selfishness, regularly visited by all of the tribes.

And all of them come there, and fight and kill even more than anywhere else."

"Do the people-pleaser kill?"

"If they can't please."

"And the Seekers of Affirmation?"

"If they can't achieve."

Shannax continued: "You sure love the sound of my voice. But you can never forget her. You should visit Fiery Eyes. And get closer to the heart."

"What is the heart like?"

"Here on this island? It's empty and needy. The heart of hearts does not nourish it like it should. But we can't know what is going on inside the Heart of Hearts."

"I think you know."

"We all know."

"You are feeling guilty?"

No answer, but he knew. Lucy disappeared into the sky, not without giving him one last heart-warming smile.

"I will miss you.", he thought.

"But we're one.", she answered.

"I will miss you."

Lou went back into the water to cool his head.

He swam down to his castle of Solitude, castle of Loneliness, Palace of hidden and unknown treasures buried deep beneath the surface.

Lou's Palace was one of those places where the territory of the heart and that of the mind were overlapping. Although Lou was connected to the heart of hearts and thereby to all the other places of this heart, this place, and especially those parts of it that belonged to the mind, still was the only place where he really felt at home.

In his mind he was continuing to build up a picture of the heart that he had started making a long time ago. After that he left his palace and headed towards the Islands of Hatred.

He enjoyed swimming for quite a long time before the water got more and more shallow and slowly turned darker and darker. He dived out of the water before it turned completely black and he took a look around to see all the small, lifeless Islands made of black sand. The further he swam the bigger those Islands became and finally he had no choice but to crawl on one of them to get further towards the volcano of rage.

To his right he noticed that some of the people of the Island of Insecurity had entered on one of the Islands of Hatred. While some of them were still yelling, others already took out their knives and started attacking one another. After Lou had crawled for about half an hour even the last one of them dropped down dead. (The last one died because of the injuries that he had gotten during the fight.)

The water started to softly and slowly push some of their bodies from the Island. The other bodies would sink deeper into the sand and dissolve there. Nothing would last and nothing would change. New people would come there soon and this scene would repeat itself over and over.

Lou had seen it many times and his heart had become colder and colder each time.

There was a special connection between the heart of rage and the heart of Insecurity which lead people to come to these Islands.

For hours and hours Lou crawled forward steadily and patiently. The Island seemed to stretch endlessly, and only at its end would he find the volcano of rage where Fiery Eyes lived.

Fiery Eyes possessed the heart of rage. On a deeper level however, the heart possessed Fiery Eyes.

As he looked around he could clearly see that the heart which had possessed Fiery Eyes was not only a heart of rage. It was hatred, yes, it was cold, yes. It was bitterness and it was empty.

"Oh, Fiery Eyes.." he moaned absently.

A few hours later he could see the volcano of rage in the distance.

"While Lucy hides in the clouds, where the coldest of all wind blows,

you hide behind your bitterness and the heat of your rage." Lou said, knowing that Fiery Eyes could hear him.

"Lucy is arrogant." She answered.

"Is she?"

"I don't hide from anyone or anything. I am not afraid."

"Lies."

"Lucy is way too distant from all of this to ever see clearly. She may have clarity in her mind, but her heart she can not see. She is ignorant towards us and she is ignorant towards me."

"You are your heart."

"So what? Do you think the mind is above the heart? The mind on its own has no value at all!!!"

"The mind is both, above and under the heart."

"She ignores me and she doesn't care for me.", Fiery Eyes said.

"You do not possess the heart of hearts."

"I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!!! GO AWAY!!!"

Lou was laughing. "I'm sorry, old friend."

"WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING??" Although Fiery Eyes had learned she could not hurt Lou, she threw a huge ball of fire on him.

The black sand around Lou turned to fine black dust and covered his legs, shell and head.

"Your fire is tickling."

Fiery Eyes threw a few more balls of fire to every direction before she calmed down.

"Do you love me?" She thought secretly hoping and fearing that he would hear.

"Of course I do." He thought, knowing that she could hear. At first she smiled but then she covered her eyes in shame, denying everything towards herself and also towards him.

"My old friend." Lou said with a calm tone of voice. He was very used to her behavior.

"You will grow." He thought.

Strong feelings of doubt were flowing through Fiery Eyes veins.

"I am too weak." Her thoughts replied even though she did not want to.

If it wasn't for their incapability to hide their thoughts from one another Fiery Eyes would have never had this conversation with him.

"My love."

"NOBODY'S LOVE. I DO NOT NEED LOVE!"

"Of course you don't." he replied. It was hard to decide whether his tone of voice suggested sarcasm or if he just agreed with her because he did not want to have this argument again. In any case, Fiery Eyes was well aware of his opinion but didn't continue yelling at him. Of course she denied this awareness towards him and also towards some parts of herself.

A funny behavior, considering that she could not hide any thought or any feeling from Lou. They were one and the same person.

While she was still in denial they started walking together towards the south-east where the Island of Insecurity lay. They had a short conversation about their feelings before they reached the shore. The Islands of hatred did not stretch themselves when Fiery Eyes walked on them because she possessed their heart.

They could see the Island of Insecurity in the distance. The southern parts of the Islands of Hatred were closer to the opposite shore.

Suddenly, a huge Island of Sympathy appeared right before their eyes. Fiery Eyes almost lost her mind. "This can not be.." she stuttered. "so close to me.."

Her darkness immediately started trying to take over the strange Island but she just couldn't win it just yet. The darkness touched the Island at its shore but there it came upon a strong resistance. "LEAVE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Don't you worry about it, they appear and disappear quite randomly." Lou said but Fiery Eyes completely ignored him.

"It's so big." There was great fear in her voice.

"What if it will take over my land?" she thought.

Soon people from the Island of Insecurity jumped to the huge island of Sympathy carrying big spears. They started hitting the floor trying to sink the Island. For Lou, it was funny to watch.

Fiery Eyes continued getting more and more desperate. "It hasn't come through us. It has come through an outside Source. THIS THING IS STRANGE AND UNPREDICTABLE!!"

"Yeah right." Lou responded sarcastically.

Then he tried talking some sense to her again: "It's just a feeling."

Her eyes tried to burn him but it didn't bother him.

"You really need Lucy."

"Don't you dare say her name again!!!"

Lou ignored the flames that were surrounding him and curiously looked over to the Island of Sympathy. He decided not to provoke Fiery Eyes any further by entering that Island and instead continue his journey to Connection Island and then to the mainland.

"Goodbye, old friend." He said before he jumped into the water. A ball of fire hit the surface as he dived in and turned some of the water to steam.

It took barely 2 hours until he reached Connection Island. He decided not to enter the Island because he already knew what happened there. People came here from the Islands of Insecurity because they wanted to leave their home and instead live on the mainland. But before they could go to the mainland, they had to pass the temple of Repentance. This was problematic for 2 reasons. One, all of the people who lived on the Islands of Insecurity struggled or were nearly incapable of making the decision of leaving their home and hanging onto that decision for long enough to actually reach the mainland. They were lacking certainty. Two, not all of the priests in the temple of Repentance actually had the intention to bring people to the mainland even though all of them claimed so. Some were just there because they wanted to use the uncertainty in people's hearts to confuse them and either turn them into their slaves or send them back to the Islands of Insecurity.

Connection Island was not a nice place to be.

When Lou reached the mainland a fresh wind immediately brought the loveliest and scents to his nose.

He could feel the heart of hearts in the distance calling for him. If he turned around from here and looked at the Islands, he would be able to use his mind to move them further away or closer to him.

Only One Island was constantly dragged away from the mainland by the water current: The Island of Selflessness. The people who lived there had to repeat one endless circle over and over again: First, they paddled to the mainland and then they started taking gifts from their Island's heart to the people who lived on the mainland. Soon after that the current would drag them away from the mainland again and they would have to start paddling again.

So far nobody had found a way to build a long-lasting connection between the Island of Selflessness and the mainland. But the inhabitants of the Island of Selflessness never complained. They tried everything they could to reach the heart of hearts. Occasionally they would also give presents to the people who lived on the Islands of Insecurity.

"Carry me!" Lou yelled at one of the citizens of the mainland. The guy came closer. "Where to?"

"The palace." Without wasting any further time he took Lou into his arms and carried him a few hundred meter until they reached the palace.

He entered the palace and carried Lou all the way to the heart of hearts.

Lou's eyes were filled with longings deeper than words could ever express as he stared at the heart of hearts.

"It's the breath of life, the spirit that has been given to us." He said.

The citizen put him down to the ground and waited next to him. The same kind of longings lay in his eyes as he stared at the heart of hearts.

"But oooh. The splinters."

"Will King Peace remove them?"

"I don't know."

A big dark brown piece of wood had made its way into the heart of hearts. The effects Lou had already seen.

"It's tragic.

But the glory.

But the breath of life.

But how much we have been given."

Lou had never wanted to leave this place. As he stared into the heart of hearts he knew it would take him anywhere he wanted if he just communicated a clear longing to be there.

"The Island of dreams is still missing." He said.

His surroundings turned to bright clouds. He could see the water beneath him but he was flying in the air. Nothing held him but imagination. He heard a girl's laughter in the distance. It seemed very close but very far at the same time. It echoed from every direction but was sweet and quiet.

He knew who was ruling here, he had always known her. While fountains of light steam were building up around him right before him the outlines of a swing started getting more and more clear. A little girl with long brown hair sat there swinging up and down, to the front and to the back.

"It's cold here." Lou said.

"There is no temperature here. It's the land of dreams."

"This is where you hide."

"This is where I hid. But you found me. Do you want to play hide and seek?"

Lou smiled. How bittersweet. His journey to explore the heart had ended.

"We need to talk to Lucy." He said.

"Will Lucy join the game?"

"Lucy needs to reconnect with Fiery Eyes."

"That sounds like grown-up stuff. I don't want to do this."

Lucy appeared among them: "I heard my name."

"Let's play catch!"

"You need to reconnect with Fiery Eyes.", Lou said.

"LET'S PLAY CATCH!"

"I don't want to." Lucy replied.

"Why..", Lou began.

"CATCH!!!!", screamed the little girl.

"..not?"

Lucy took a deep breath trying to regather or find her heart.

"Because she...", she started.

"ATTENTION TO ME!!!"

Lucy took another deep breath.

"She burned me.", Lucy said.

"PLAY WITH ME!!!"

"Are you afraid now?", Lou asked.

Lucy breathed in and out. The little girl crossed her arms and started walking up and down. She was very upset.

"She can't touch me.", Lucy said.

"Why are you so afraid?" Lou thought.

"She can't touch me." Lucy repeated.

"I HATE YOU!!!" the little girl screamed.

Both, Lucy and Lou acknowledged her with a sad, compassionate look. They thought about how she used to be and how she had changed. Now that she had changed, her soul looked and felt like burned skin.

"Oh, Emily... This was Fiery Eyes touch." Lucy said.

Lou nodded silently, then he raised his voice one last time:

"So there's really not a chance you will do this?"

"No."

There was a hint of feelings in her voice, more than usual for a creature of light.

Lou twisted his eyes to demonstrate his disapproval.

"Will you fly me to the Island of Sympathy that has appeared between the Island of Insecurity and the Islands of hatred? I want to see how that plays out."

"Sure." Lucy responded and Lou found himself on the Island so fast, he couldn't even feel how it happened.

Warriors from the Island of Insecurity were all around. They must had been here for hours and hours because they seemed very tired. Many of them had of course killed each other during that time.

Fiery eyes sat on the shore, still on the same spot that Lou had seen her last time. Her arms were crossed over her legs and she seemed very frustrated.

"hmm.. Let's see what this is." Lou said and leisurely, yet curiously, crawled to the middle of the Island and started to dig a hole there.

The ground was very soft and easy, even for a turtle, to push aside.

Lou found what he had been searching for after about 10 minutes: The heart of the Island.

Warriors of the Island of Insecurity immediately pushed him away from the heart and tried to attack it. After the first few attempts couldn't touch the heart, they began killing each other again.

Lou crawled closer to the heart, to take a closer look.

Fiery Eyes had entered the Island of Sympathy. She clearly felt very uncomfortable but kept on walking towards Lou and the heart.

"What is it?" she said without hiding her disgust and without even once glancing at it.

"This could indeed be very dangerous for your land." Lou said. "It's a heart of compassion."

Fiery Eyes stumbled a few steps away from the heart and raised her hands as if to protect herself.

"Kill it! Kill it" she said trying to remain calm but clearly close to tears.

"It's just a feeling."

"It's dangerous."

"No heart on its own causes damage. It needs the mind to do that."

"So you're telling me that my anger never hurt anyone?"

"Anger doesn't hurt people. But you have used it to hurt people."

"What if it kills me?" Fiery Eyes finally broke down crying.

"A monster with a heart.", Lou commented.

"Shut up."

"You're so afraid of change."

"SHUT UP!!!" Fiery Eyes was sobbing.

"I love you."

"Nobody can love me!"

"In moments like this I am reminded in how unreal you actually are."

"I HATE YOU!"

"What reason to?"

"What? Are you rhyming now?"

"Yes I am, without a doubt."

"That's not funny."

"Oh dear honey."

"Turtle-bunny." Fiery Eyes replied with a calmer but still angry tone of voice.

"Now let's do something to destroy this heart."

"It might turn to hatred if you feed it with hatred." Lou advised.

"Thank you." Fiery Eyes said in a short moment of relief.

She moved to one of the Islands of Hatred and picked up some of the black sand. Then she flew back to the heart of compassion. She threw the black sand in the hole that Lou had dug again, without even looking at the heart.

The hearts beats started beating faster as in panic as the sand started to sink in. For a brief moment the whole Island lost some of its color, then it returned, then some of it disappeared again. The heart was struggling to cleanse itself from the bitterness.

"HA!" Fiery Eyes yelled. She went back to her land to get more dirt.

Suddenly a great light brightened everything for a brief moment. The clouds above them had opened up and Lucy came down to them with an incredible speed.

"STOP THIS!" she screamed with her angelic voice just a little out of control.

"YOU CAN NOT DO THIS!"

"Oh, what can't we do?" Lou responded quite calmly and quite provoking. Lucy did not let herself get provoked by him though. She stepped right in front of the heart and crossed her arms.

"Nobody touches the heart." She said with a loud, dominating voice.

Fiery Eyes had started shaking when she saw Lucy. For about half a minute she wasn't able to control her body anymore as several feelings went through her: Shock, Excitement, Pain, Shame, Fear, Resentment, Disappointment, Anger...

"You never loved me..." She thought.

Slowly she started moving towards the Heart of Compassion and Lucy again. She did so without even looking towards them.

"Hello cold." She said to Lucy but was still avoiding to look at her.

"Hello Evil." Lucy responded.

"At least I have a heart." The hurt in her voice could not be overheard.

"You only have pain.", Lucy's voice revealed disgust.

"Is that what makes me evil?", Fiery Eyes spoke in a provoking manner.

"She is not evil." Lou tried to interfere. Both, Lucy and Fiery Eyes gave him a very angry look before they continued talking.

"Why did you give up on me?", Fiery Eyes said.

"You never loved me.", Lucy answered.

"I loved you.", Fiery Eyes protested.

"You killed me.", Lucy replied.

"I NEVER tried to kill you!!", Fiery Eyes screamed.

"You wanted my freedom, not me."

"I wanted you. I wanted you near me."

"But how could I be close to you when I am no longer me?", Lucy asked.

"You're always you. I wanted you to be close to me."

"You didn't want me to be at all."

"You can't understand how much I loved you.", Fiery Eyes tone suggested deep disappointment.

"You never loved me.", Lucy replied.

"DON'T YOU EVER DARE SAY THAT!!!", Fiery Eyes screamed.

"I am only in freedom."

Fiery Eyes facial expression changed from anger to surprise as she began to understand.

Then she started crying again:

"I can't live without you."

"Me without me." Lou commented. Lucy and Fiery Eyes ignored him.

"What do you expect me to feel?" Lucy said.

Fiery Eyes sobbed. "You are frozen and there is ice on your skin and in your veins. It's cold, living in the skies."

"Do you expect me to change?", Lucy asked.

"Will you feel me?"

"What?", Surprise was an odd emotion for Lucy to show.

"You came here to protect a heart of compassion. But you don't have any of your own. Will you feel me?"

Lucy reacted confused.

Fiery Eyes got up and reached out her hand, pointing towards Lucy's heart.

Lucy carefully stepped a few centimeters back, she was indecisive.

"But after what happened to Emily?"

Fiery Eyes stepped back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." she broke down crying again.

"You are the only one who can take it." Lou thought knowing that Lucy could hear him.

As through a miracle, Lucy's heart had been touched.

Slowly she started moving towards Fiery Eyes, who was sitting on the ground breathing heavily.

Lucy's finger touched her hand, then she moved it to her shoulder and finally she put her hand on Fiery Eyes Heart. Lou smiled.